May 2025| View Upcoming Events

May 2025 Newsletter

May is the unofficial beginning of summer; we certainly experience summer like temperatures in Arizona during May. But May is also when most folks increase their outdoor activity.

Here in Arizona the wildflowers are spectacular; get out and enjoy this special display from our late spring showers. Also, the fishing isn’t too bad either with many of the high mountain lakes and streams opening up. During May we also honor mothers on Mother’s Day and honor our veterans on Memorial Day. 

We had a busy late March and April with Arizona Game & Fish Department (AZGFD) Outdoor Expo March 29 & 30; A special shout-out to Arthur Greenway who hosted most and attended many of these events:

• a Salt River Saturday April 5;
• a special introduction to fishing at Saint Louis the King School April 9, see more later in the newsletter;
• a Cub Scout fishing day at Chaparral Park, April 13;
• a Pint Night in Prescott April 15;
• the Native and Wild Trout Conference April 17 see article below;
• a special Salt River Saturday/Earth Day celebration with Alpha Kapa Alpha, April 19 (see pictures and article later in the newsletter); and,
• an Earth Day celebration at Carl Haden High School, Phoenix April 22.

The special Salt River Saturday, April 19, was co-hosted by ZGTU, with representatives from Arizona Game and Fish Department District 6 Aquatics biologists, and the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. See separate articles with pictures and more details in newsletter. There were great crowds at all these events.

Late Breaking News: The Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited is being inducted to the Wildlife for Tomorrow's Outdoor Hall of Fame. See article later in the newsletter.

We encourage you to join us for these many activities! (It's not fair that just a few of us have all the fun!) Click here and visit our webpage to see the various events we have scheduled. We’ll continue to update these events, so check back often.

Additional Volunteer opportunities include:

• Staffing for AZTU – GCC Fish Camp, See details here. There are three sessions: June 1-6; June 8-13; and June 15-20. Please contact Arthur Greenway (602) 399-7777 (M) or me, Alan Davis, 925-785-5583(M). 

We encourage you to join us for these many activities. Click here and our webpage to see the various events we have scheduled. We’ll continue to update these events, so check back frequently.

Finally, we would like to thank all our volunteers and supporters for their continued dedication to Trout Unlimited and our mission. We could not do what we do without your support, and we are grateful for each and every one of you.

Zane Grey Chapter is expanding, so we’ll have a series of Pint Nights around Western and Northern Arizona. We visited Prescott at Brown Bag Brewery, on April 15. Sorry if we didn't get a chance to say hello ...

Watch for our announcement regarding our next Pint Night.

We plan these events as an occasional series of live meetings for our members, and to make new friends. So, stay tuned … there are more to come! We'll determine our next event during our board meeting and let everyone know where we take our act on the road next.

Your ZGTU board asks that as you read this newsletter, please think about how you would like to join in and help promote fishing, conservation, education, and love of nature. You may contact me or any board member to let us know about your ideas.

We hope you can join us, or better yet volunteer to help with these many and varied activities. 

Until then, 

Tight Lines. 

Alan Davis

On April 9, ZGTU was invited to teach an outdoor education class at Saint Louis the King School. During this lunchtime event, students were introduced to various aspects of outdoor education awareness. In addition, students had the opportunity to cast spinning rods into targets for prizes. A lot of information and activities were packed into a 60 minutes. The students were very appreciative and eager participants. The school also signed on as a Trout-in-the-classroom for the 25-26 school year!

On April 19, Zane Grey TU hosted the Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. Sorority at our last Salt River Saturday conservation event. This joint collaboration was in line with the AKA Earth Day initiative. It was a beautiful day with over 75 adults and children. Different stations were set up to provide a wide view of conservation. Be Outdoors Arizona, Arizona Game and Fish Department-Region 6, and ZGTU provided a variety of activities that captured the imagination and participation of the participants. They had a chance to cast a fly or spin cast rod, feel pelts and learn about wildlife. And learn about the purpose of the Salt River and its ecosystem and pick up trash along the riverbank. There was plenty of food for all. A special commemorative pink and green dry hopper was made for all of the participants!

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A local Cub Scout troop asked ZGTU to provide a fishing experience at Chaparral community waters on Sunday, April 13. This was in conjunction with their troop family cookout.   ZGTU provided all the equipment including rods, tackle, lures and bait. In addition, a quick course on safety and casting was well received by parents and scouts. Numerous scouts caught fish including bass and bluegill. At those times, proper handling and release methods were demonstrated. Both scouts and parents had a great time on the water. We had so much fun, we forgot to take photos!

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April 22nd, Zane Grey and Be Outdoors Arizona teamed up and had table displays for the students at the Carl Hayden Community High School Earth Day Celebration. The kids were fascinated by the collection of preserved insects and matching tied flies. Over 2 hours hundreds of students passed through to learn about watersheds, trout and conservation. Be Outdoors Arizona provided furs, skulls and antlers for the students to check out.

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Coming up in Zane Grey Land

Arizona Fly Casters' monthly meeting will be Tuesday, April 3 at the American Italian Club 7509 N. 12th Street, Phoenix, AZ. Speaker Speaker is Jeff Currier, renowned guide and fly fishing author. Meeting starts at 7p.m.

Desert Fly Casters' monthly meeting will be on Wednesday, April 9 at the Elks Club, 1775 W. Chandler Blvd, Chandler. Speaker is Jeff Currier, renowned guide and fly fishing author. Meeting starts at 7 p.m.

And, if you need to renew your TU membership you can do it here easily. This link should take you directly to the renewal page.

April Meeting Summary

The AZ Council of Trout Unlimited Public Policy Committee (AZTU-PPC) did not have an April 2025 meeting as members were encouraged to attend the annual Native & Wild Trout Conference on April 17, 2025, and many members did in fact attend.

The AZTU-PPC held its annual strategy planning summit meeting on Saturday, March 1, 2025, from 8:00 am to noon. Tasha Sorensen, the Western Energy Lead for Trout Unlimited, gave a presentation on an analysis of energy development, land use, and water. She anticipates seeing increased pressure on fish and wildlife habitat from domestic energy development, including traditional and renewable sources. Additionally, transmission and interconnection and the mining of critical minerals will amplify the risk to native and wild trout and salmonid habitats on both private and public lands.

Legislative Update

The 2025 state legislature is in session and bills have been drafted and are in various stages in the legislative process. We are monitoring twelve bills of interest and reporting on them to the AZ TU community. Certain members of the AZTU Council attended a "Support Public Lands" rally at the Capitol on Thursday, March 27, 2025, sponsored by Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and the Arizona Wildlife Federation. It was attended by approximately 250 individuals from numerous organizations. We learned that Arizona has more anti-public lands initiatives/bills than any other western state in the US.

Nate Rees reported at the AZTU-PPC Strategy Summit on March 1, 2025, that there are two bills that TU opposes HB2083 regarding the AZ Game & Commission board members and SB1278 regarding a commission to oversee the sale of private lands. It appears that both bills have stalled in the legislative process.

Arizona Water Management

Tom Osterday - Past Chair AZTU PPC

I continue to participate in the Rural Water Working Group (RWWG), advocating for local control of groundwater when it is threatened. Senator Sundareshan and Rep. Mathis proposed an identical bill in the Senate (SB1425) and the House (H2714) which our group supports. This bill allows local communities to decide what actions need to be taken when their aquifer shows serious depletion. Unfortunately, neither bill received a hearing.

Sen Dunn proposed SB1520 which would provide limited relief to 4 groundwater basins in AZ but would make it virtually impossible for any other basins to receive protection in the future. This bill passed in the Senate on March 13 and passed the House Natural Resources, Energy & Water (NREW) Committee on March 25th.The RWWG held an event urging bi-partisan legislation that same day in the Capitol Rose Garden. If it does pass the House, Governor Hobbs is expected to veto it.

We believe that negotiation between the Republican and Democratic leadership is the only way we are going to make progress in protecting groundwater in Arizona. A meeting of the principals was held on March 10th, but a meeting scheduled for the following week was cancelled by Representative Gail Griffin. We believe it is essential that we address rural groundwater in this session because negotiation on Colorado River Water is going to consume everyone's attention next year when the current agreement expires.



Upcoming Public Policy Events

The next regular scheduled AZTU-PPC monthly Teams meeting will be held on Thursday, May 8, 2025, at 7:00 pm. Our guest speaker will be Josh Goodfellow who is a water laboratory manager with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

The AZTU-Public Policy Committee hosts a virtual meeting on the second Thursday of the month at 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM. If you are interested, please contact Ron Stearns at PublicPolicyChair@az-tu.org.

Another Successful Conference Held

The 16th Annual Native and Wild Trout Conference was held on April 17^th at the AZGFD headquarters with over 115 attendees.

Distinguished Service Awards for Conservation were once again presented.



The Apache Trout Conservation Award was presented to the Arizona Sportsmen For Wildlife Conservation. The award recognizes organizations for supporting a wide range of efforts to protect and restore native and wild trout.

Chris Cantrell, with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, was honored with the Gila Trout Conservation Award. The award recognizes an individual who has shown remarkable leadership and commitment to conserve and restore ecosystems focusing on water, trout, wildlife and their habitats.

Posting of the conference agenda and presentations will be made available in the June newsletter.

Join us as we host a series of Salt River Saturdays with our Fishing Club partners, Desert Fly Casters Club (DFC), and Arizona Fly Casters Club (AFC), and of course with the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD).

Stay tuned for the next season of Salt River Saturdays later this fall!

Wildlife for Tomorrow announced today that the Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited is to be inducted into the Arizona Outdoor Hall of Fame.

In response, Chairman Alan Davis stated:

The Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited is honored to be inducted into the Arizona Outdoor Hall of Fame by Wildlife for Tomorrow and the Arizona Game and Fish Department. This recognition celebrates our longstanding dedication to conserving and restoring Arizona’s cold-water fisheries and aquatic habitats.

We proudly join an esteemed group of individuals and organizations committed to protecting Arizona’s outdoor heritage. This honor fuels our passion to continue advocating for healthy waterways and thriving ecosystems for future generations.



Thank you to Wildlife for Tomorrow and all who support conservation in Arizona—we look forward to celebrating at the induction banquet on August 23, 2025, at Hilton Phoenix Resort at the Peak!

The Arizona Council consolidated the Arizona Trout Unlimited chapters. Effective January 1, 2025, much of eastern and southern Arizona, Kingman and Navajo County east and south including White Mountains: Show Low, Greer, etc., is becoming a part of the Old Pueblo Chapter based in Tucson.

The Mogollon Rim, and areas west of Kingman, including Flagstaff, Lees Ferry and the Colorado River down to Yuma become part of the "new" Zane Grey Chapter based in Phoenix. The below map will give you some idea of the new alignments. The Green areas are the new Zane Grey Chapter, while the Blue areas are the Old Pueblo Chapter's new alignment. The non colored areas are National parks, Military reservations, or other government areas, do not have postal delivery Zip code, and few if any residents.

The Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife Conservation (AZSFWC) license plate fund is derived from the sale of wildlife conservation license plates and member organizations as well as non-member organizations are eligible to apply for those funds. 

The Arizona TU Council and Chapters have received funds over the past twelve years to support the Annual Native and Wild Trout Conferences, Fish Camp, Trout in the Classroom programs and various conservation projects.

The next time your registration comes up for renewal, choose the conservation license plate option at registration to show your support for conservation and our projects. 

Social Media: 

Check out our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/zanegreytu Check out the Instagram page for

Arizona of Trout Unlimited: @Trout_Unlimited_Arizona

If you're more traditional, try signing up for the private Facebook group: Arizona Women of Trout Unlimited.

Below is a list of fishing organizations in Arizona. Feel free to join, explore, visit their websites or attend a meeting to find out more information:

Make sure to follow our Instagram @Trout_Unlimited_Arizona



You may access our calendar here. 

Zane Grey Trout Unlimited